It is known in practice to screen the hearing of very young children with the aid of sound stimuli. In this method, the responses of these babies can be assessed by a researcher.
This known method has in practice considerable drawbacks. In general, for the apparatuses used in the method at least two researchers are necessary, viz. one researcher to present the sound stimuli outside the field of view of the child and another to record the response and to determine the course of the test on the basis of instructions. The sound stimuli emitted by the known apparatus provide inadequate facilities for testing different frequencies. The said stimuli can also be varied by the apparatus mentioned only to a limited extent, as a result of which the reliability of the responses is very dependent thereon. To evaluate the tests well and to monitor the quality associated with it, a time-consuming and laborious administrative process is necessary.